1. Technical Field
This invention relates to hand tools and, more particularly, to a portable apparatus for installing laminate flooring on a floor surface.
2. Prior Art
Laminate flooring is the hottest trend to hit the residential flooring industry since the early days of linoleum! As the younger generation of homeowners look to modernize the look and feel of their decor, laminate flooring has slowly become one of the hottest consumer products on the house and home market. Laminate flooring is an ultra-durable product that looks like a real wood or stone floor. But it's less costly than the ‘real thing’, easier to install and can last a lot longer. Laminate floors are quickly becoming the flooring of choice for active families and homeowners. If you love the gorgeous look of a wood or stone floor but are worried about high traffic that can ruin expensive floors, laminate flooring is probably the best option on the market. Laminate flooring is a lot like Formica countertops—a combination of layers of wood and melamine plastic that imitate real wood, stone or other textures. But what you're seeing when you look at laminate flooring is actually a picture—a high-quality photograph of real wood or stone that has been placed on top of the floor and covered with ultra-strong, clear plastic. Laminate flooring is available in planks, strips and tiles.
Traditionally, it is glued into place, but in the past few years manufacturers have introduced some incredible glueless and pre-glued formats that cut installation time in half! Laminate flooring is installed on top of your existing floor. And, if you choose a glueless floor, you can even remove the floor and take it with you when you move! One of the few disadvantages to laminate flooring is that it cannot be refinished, sanded or stripped. However, with some of the strongest warranties in the flooring industry, there's not much chance you'll ever need to replace your laminate floor! However, the installation of laminate flooring can be both difficult and tedious at times. Obviously it would be advantageously to develop a device that would make the installation of laminate flooring simple and convenient.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,361 to Heimbach discloses a clampless flooring tool that includes a base, a wedge sidewardly guidable by and in slidable contact with the base, and a force applying device secured to the base and in contact with the wedge, which drives the wedge sidewardly. The wedge provides a force oblique to the force applied from the force applying device such that a flooring piece can be acted upon by the oblique force in a direction oblique to the direction of the force applied by the force applying device. An obliquely movable member, which, in addition, may be sidewardly immovable, may be provided between and in contact with the wedge for contact with the flooring. The tool is especially useful in installation of laminate flooring. Unfortunately, this prior art example may still require use of a hammer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,221 to Muhlebach discloses a multi-part gripping device for pressing together flooring elements, such as laminates and finished parquet, in side-by-side relationship includes two rod parts that are axially and telescopically connected. One of said rod parts includes a pressure jaw at an end having parallel shoulders that extend toward the other rod part, the shoulders being at a different spacing from the associated rod part for abutting a base portion of a flooring element over which the gripping device is positioned. A longitudinally adjustable lead screw is pivotally connected between the two rod parts for moving the two rod parts together, such that a connecting pressure is applied to a flooring element being interconnectably positioned adjacent one or more previously positioned flooring elements. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed to work with the pushing and pulling motions of a user's weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,450 to Pasto discloses a flooring tool for the installation or repair of wooden tongue and groove flooring. The tool has a jack for exerting linear force, with a fixed and a movable portion. A pivoting gripper is mounted upon the movable portion, and a guide is mounted upon the fixed portion, which allows a brace such as a 2 by 4 board to be inserted into the guide and gripper and held in place, extending the reach and usefulness of the tool. A foot upon a push-pull rod extends downwards from the fixed portion of the jack, and pushes upon the flooring planks. In a preferred embodiment, two attachment points are provided for the foot on its rod, at each end of the fixed portion, providing maximum flexibility. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed to work with various types of floor boards.
Accordingly, the present invention is disclosed in order to overcome the above noted shortcomings. The present invention is convenient and easy to use, lightweight yet durable in design, and designed for installing laminate flooring on a floor surface. The manually operable hand tool is simple to use, inexpensive, and designed for many years of repeated use.